Car body protectors



June 2, 1959 s. v. ZIENTARA CAR BODY PROTECTORS Filed Mgrgh 21, 1955INVENTOR r STANLEY v. ZIENTARA BY [6M ATTORNEY United ttcs Patent2,889,165 Patented June 2, 1959 CAR BODY PROTECTORS Stanley V. Zientara,Chicago, Ill. Application March 21, 1955, Serial No. 495,597

Claims. (Cl. 293-1) My invention relatm to motor cars, and moreparticuarly to means for protecting the bodies thereof against injury byadjoining cars in a garage or parking lot. It is customary to park carsin a garage or parking lot quite close to each other. Therefore, whenthe door of one car is opened, its outer edge frequently strikes thebody of the adjacent car, creating a mark, scratch or dent. Doors incurrent makes of cars are quite wide and it is difiicult to open themsufliciently to allow the entrance or egress of occupants without havingthe door swung so wide as to strike the adjoining car with the chance ofdamaging it as stated. This condition is particularly serious when theadjoining car is new or highly polished, as the owner probably is doinghis best to avoid any injury to its appearance. In view of thissituation, it is one object of the present invention to provide aprotector for motor cars which will prevent an opening door of the samefrom inflicting any injury to the body of an adjoining car.

A further object is to provide a protector which also forms a guard forthe car on which it is mounted to save the body thereof from injury byan opening door of an adjoining car.

Another object is to provide a protector which is in the form of a unitfor each door of the car for which it is intended, so that each doorwill carry protective means both for itself and an adjoining car.

An additional object is to design the novel protector in the form of asimple accessory which may be mounted quickly by the owner of the car onall the doors thereof to serve as stated.

A still further object is to construct the novel protector in a mannerto fit all car doors and for retention of the same when the doors areclosed or locked.

An important object is to design the novel protector as a neat trim formotor cars, in order that it may add to rather than detract from theappearance thereof.

With the above objects in View, a better understanding of the inventionmay be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 isa perspective view of a typical motor car, showing two of the protectorsmounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a protector;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view, partly broken away, and showing theapplication of the protector to the side of a motor car body;

Fig. 4 is an inverted view of the right-hand portion of the protector asseen in Fig. 3, with one part extended for purposes of clarity; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, showing a modified form of the protector.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawingindicates the main portion of the protector as a tube of rubber designedto be stretched along each door of a motor car 11, as indicated inFig. 1. Since the opening door of one car will strike the body of anadjoining one at the point of greatest prominence or convexity thereof,the height at which the protector is 2 placed is approximately along themiddle, where such prominence or convexity shouldoccur.

The tube 10 is designed to receive frontal and rear end pieces 13 and14, respectively. Thus, either of these may be designed ornamentally,the illustration for the frontal end piece 13 being that of an arrowwhich may be marked with the initials of the car owner.

Figs. 3 and 4 show more clearly the .manner of attaching the end piecesto the rubber tube 10. Thus, Fig. 4 shows that the end piece 14 is ablock which has a cavity 16 on the inner side, that is, the side facingthe motor car body and indicated at 14a. The forward end of the endpiece has a cylindrical bore 17 designed for the insertion of thecorresponding end of the tube 10 with a frictional fit to the positionindicated. When this has been done, a nail 19 is inserted from thebottom of the rear end piece into a bore 20 made in the same and a bore22 made in the tube 10 to the extent of lodging the pointed end of thenail in the top stock of the rear end piece, as shown in Fig. 2. Now,the rounded head 24 of the nail will fitneatly against the bottom of theend piece, as shown in the same figure.

The rear end piece 14 is also designed to seat a metallic hook 30 in thecavity 16, the rear end piece being molded on the inside with cascadedlayers 31 and 31a for this purpose whereby to seat the head portion 30and the curved neck portion 30a of the hook, respectively, as shown inFig. 3. The bill 32 of the hook 30 projects on the outside in a positionto engage the side rim 35 of a motor car door 36 along which theprotector is placed, in the manner shown in Fig. 3. This figure showsboth ends of the protector secured in this manner; and the length of thetube 10 may be calculated. to require a limited amount of stretch inorder to have the hooks secure a firm hold on the door.

The protector is properly mounted on the motor car door when it ispositioned as shown and described. However, in case the rubber tubetends to become relaxed with extended use, the protector is made withadditional means to maintain it in engagement with the motor car door.As clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, such additional means comprise a wire40 extending inside the rubber tube and having coil spring formations 41at intervals. The wire 40 terminates with hooks 43; and the hooks 30have shanks 45 which are perforated at one or more places, as indicatedat 47, for the engagement of the spring wire books 43. When the hooks 30are properly lodged in the end pieces 13 and 14, the connection of thespring wire hooks 43 will be such as to duplicate the tension of therubber tube 10. However, when such tension relaxes as stated, that ofthe more permanent spring wire 40 will prevail, serving to hold theprotector in firm engagement with the motor car door.

The end pieces 13 and 14 are of a fairly firm type of rubber; and therear end piece 14 is made with a rounded corner 48 because it is carriedby the free end of the door 36. Thus, when the latter is opened wide,the impact of the end piece 14 with the body of an adjoining car will becushioned by the yieldable and rounded properties of the rear end piece,so that no mark or other injury will be inflicted to the adjoining car.

With a set of protectors mounted on a motor car as shown in Fig. 1, thesame is not only equipped to render adjoining motor cars safe againstmarring or injury in the manner just stated, but a car equipped with theprotectors is also safeguarded along the course of its doors when thedoors of an adjoining car are opened into contact with the equipped car,since the alined protector will form a continuous rubber guard at theheight of greatest body bulge or prominence, this factor being ofspecial importance where the equipped car has no chrome trim along itsbody for protective purposes.

When a car is equipped with a set of the protectors, the closing andlocking of'its doors will retain the protector against tampering orunauthorized removal. While the protector may be utilized only .when acar is to be parked between adjoining cars, it is designed to be made asa permanent mounting in order to avoid the annoyance of mounting,removal or storage. To this end, the protector is preferably made withan attractive design, as shown in Fig. 2, in order to form a neat trimalong the body of the car; and the rubber tube 10 need not necessarilybe of the conventional cylindrical cross-section, Fig. 5 showing that atube a of triangular cross-section could be employed as an ornamentalvariant. It is also possible to lend the tube the form of a molding orother- Wise embellish the tube and end pieces with attractive andpleasing efiects.

In case the rubber tube 10 becomes unduly relaxed, it is a simple matterto withdraw the nail 19, remove the tube, cut off a piece, and restorethe fit of the tube with the required amount of tension.

In conclusion, it may be said that the novel protector not only solvesthe problem of body defacement or injury by the closely parked cars, butalso adds an ornament to the motor car as the means for that purpose.

While I have described the invention and its modification along specificlines, various minor changes or refinements may be made therein withoutdeparting from its principle, and I reserve the right to employ all suchchanges and refinements as may come Within the scope and spirit of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A protector for the doors of motor cars for positioning along theexterior surface of a car door comprising an elongated yieldablecushioning member having free ends, fastening means provided at saidfree ends, and a cushioned bumper member encasing at least one of saidfastening means to protect other cars from injury due to the opening ofsaid door.

'2. A protector for the doors of motor cars for positioning along theexterior surface of a car door comprising a cushioning tube, springmeans having free ends channelled in said tube and extendingsubstantially the length thereof, door gripping means provided at saidfree ends of said spring means to engage opposite edges of said door, acushioned bumper member slidably mounted on said tube and encasing atleast one of said fastening means to protect other cars from injury dueto the opening of said door.

3. The structure of claim 2, and means maintaining said bumper member infixed position on said tube over said fastening means.

4. A protector for the doors of cars positioned laterally along theoutermost exterior surface of a car door comprising an elongatedcushioning tube, a resilient member having free ends channelled in saidtube and extending substantially the length thereof, a hook provided atone of said free ends engaging the hinged edge of said door, a secondhook having an upwardly directed portion provided at the other of saidfree ends engaging the opening edge of said door; a cushioned bumpermember having a cavity with a connecting bore therein, said borereceiving a portion of said tube, said hook seated in said cavity, aportion of said bumper within said cavity engaging said upwardlydirected portion of said second hook whereby said second hook isprojected outwardly of said cavity, and means maintaining said bumpermember in a fixed position on said tube.

5. The structure of claim 4, wherein said means comprises a pin whichextends through said bumper member and through a portion of said tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,212,493 Brunken Aug. 27, 1940 2,288,669 Atkinson July 7, 19422,456,157 Tadd Dec. 14, 1948 2,675,983 King Apr. 20, 1954

